With a few nods and a clear-voiced "yes, ma'am," Stacey Jackson on Wednesday ended her year-long resistance against accusations that she orchestrated an elaborate kickback scheme to rob a federally financed anti-blight program during now-disgraced Mayor Ray Nagin's tenure in City Hall. She struck a plea deal with prosecutors and admitted to U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon that she was guilty of one count of conspiracy to receive kickbacks involving federal money.

She faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and three years probation, although such a harsh sentence would be rare for first-time federal offenders. She also could be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars and ordered to pay restitution to any victims Lemmon identifies.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Harper told Lemmon he plans to drop the three other charges against Jackson when she is sentenced. Jackson is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 16.

Jackson's change of heart -- she had pleaded not guilty last year -- followed the collapse of her defense team's two-pronged strategy to have the case against her tossed. Attorney Eddie Castaing had accused prosecutors of filing the charges too late and of unjustly tainting the jury pool through anonymous disparaging comments posted to online stories about Jackson's alleged transgressions on NOLA.com.

But Lemmon ruled in April that prosecutors had timely indicted Jackson in June 2013 on four counts of conspiracy, theft, accepting a bribe and obstruction of justice. Then she and U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Wilkinson ruled in May that two former prosecutors who admitted making online comments on other cases while disguising their identities were not the commenters who attacked Jackson online.

Jackson, 47, was the focus of prosecutors' five-year investigation of the New Orleans Affordable Homeownership program, the troubled non-profit that she ran as its executive director. She eventually became another black eye for Nagin, whom a jury convicted of 20 corruption charges in February. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 9.

Federal agents stormed NOAH's offices in August 2008 as suspicions grew that little to no work had been done at hundreds of properties assigned to the agency. What followed led to guilty pleas from four contractors, including Jackson's cousin, Richard Hall. Hall stood accused of stealing $117,000 from NOAH while performing few of the house repairs he was hired to do. He admitted his guilt in 2012, but he did not admit kicking cash back to Jackson.

Prosecutors alleged that Jackson overpaid NOAH's contractors so that they could then shunt some of the extra cash back to her to keep the money flowing. A roofer, Jamon Dial pleaded guilty in July 2012. His wife, Shantrice, was a special projects coordinator for NOAH who struck a deal with prosecutors and entered a pretrial diversion program.

Contractors Trellis Smith and Earl Myers also pleaded guilty in 2012 for their parts in the conspiracy. Unlike Hall, Myers described Jackson as a ringleader.

Jackson paid the contractors with NOAH money and instructed them to reroute cash back to her through other people and companies. She also used public money for personal gain, including paying to have Myers renovate her house and for landscaping at her mother's home, Harper told the court. Jackson confirmed Harper's account as accurate.

NOAH ceased to exist in October 2012, when Mayor Mitch Landrieu rolled its operations into the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority.

Jackson's case spotlighted what became a recurring theme among federal cases spawned from misdeeds around the time of Katrina. Her defense sought to discredit prosecutors by focusing on the online commenting scandal that brought down former U.S. Attorney Jim Letten and several of his top lieutenants.

Castaing requested data regarding NOLA.com commenters writing under the handles "jammer1954," "aircheck" and "kefir." In an unusual move, Lemmon asked Wilkinson to review the comments, and any identifying information linked to them, in private.

Wilkinson eventually ruled that jammer1954 was not a federal agent and that none of the handles were associated with prosecutors Sal Perricone or Jan Mann, both of whom resigned after admitting to commenting on other cases online.

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune fought throughout Jackson's case to keep the commenters' information out of the court, arguing that to turn it over violated the First Amendment.